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Ernestine Schaffner

Ernestine Schaffner, a "Woman of the Century"

Ernestine Schaffner (known as "The Prisoner's Friend"; ca. 1828 – June 18, 1902) was a German-born American prison reformer. She was the first to do volunteer missionary work among those detained in the New York City Prison,[1] known as The Tombs, having the financial means to indulge her charitable leanings in a substantial way. Daily, she left her luxurious home in New York City to try and right some of the wrongs inflicted by society and the law. In 1890, Schaffner's philanthropic work had grown to be so extensive that she engaged a salaried lawyer to attend to the legal part of it, and at the same time, she opened an office near The Tombs at 23 Centre Street. Here she advertised: ‘Free Advice to the Poor and the Innocent Accused.’ Schaffner was regularly out US$20,000 in bail bonds, and she had a considerable sum lent to those who had been prisoners.[2] She and Rebecca Salome Foster were known as "The Angels of the Tombs".[3]

  1. ^ "MRS. ERNESTINE SCHAFFNER" (PDF). The New York Times. 22 June 1902. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  2. ^ Outlook Publishing Company 1894, p. 485.
  3. ^ Munro 1909, p. 248-49.
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